What are the 16 Domains of VB-MAPP and How Do You Score a VB-MAPP? All You Need to Know

The VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program) consists of 16 domains that assess various areas of language and social development in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These domains are as follows:

1. Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (Part 1): This domain involves assessing the child’s readiness for the VBMAPP program, including establishing their motivation, reinforcers, and instructional control.

2. Barriers Assessment: This domain identifies potential barriers to learning and communication, such as problem behaviors, specific deficits, or difficulties in attending.

3. Transition to Establishing Operations: This domain focuses on developing the child’s motivation to interact and learn, including establishing the necessary establishing operations and abolishing operations.

4. Visual Perception Skills: This domain assesses the child’s visual perceptual skills, including their ability to discriminate, match, and sort visual stimuli.

5. Echoic Skills: Echoic skills involve repeating words or sounds that are heard. This domain assesses the child’s ability to echo and imitate vocal models.

6. Listener Responding Skills: This domain assesses the child’s ability to respond receptively to spoken language, including following instructions, answering questions, and responding to various verbal prompts.

7. Manding: Manding refers to requesting. This domain assesses the child’s ability to make requests for desired items, actions, or information.

8. Tacting: Tacting involves labeling or naming objects, actions, or events in the environment. This domain assesses the child’s ability to tact various stimuli.

9. Spontaneous Vocal Behavior: This domain focuses on the child’s ability to emit vocal behavior spontaneously, without direct prompts or cues.

10. Listener Responding by Feature, Function, and Class: This domain assesses the child’s ability to categorize and respond to stimuli based on their features, functions, and classes.

11. Visual Matching Skills: This domain assesses the child’s ability to visually match identical and non-identical stimuli.

12. Independent Play Skills: This domain evaluates the child’s ability to engage in play activities independently, without constant adult support or direct instruction.

13. Social Behavior and Social Play Skills: This domain focuses on assessing the child’s social behavior, including engaging in social interactions, initiating and responding to social bids, and participating in social play.

14. Group and Classroom Skills: This domain assesses the child’s ability to function and participate in group settings, including following group instructions, transitioning between activities, and interacting appropriately with peers.

15. Listener Responding by Feature, Function, and Class (Intermediate): This domain builds upon the previous listener responding skills domain and assesses the child’s ability to categorize and respond to stimuli based on features, functions, and classes at an intermediate level.

16. Visual Perception Skills (Matching and Sorting): This domain expands on the previous visual perception skills domain and assesses the child’s ability to match and sort visual stimuli.

These 16 domains provide a comprehensive framework for assessing the language and social development of individuals with ASD and serve as a guide for developing appropriate intervention programs.

How Do You Score a VB-MAPP?

Scoring the VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program) involves assigning points based on the individual’s performance on each assessment item within the 16 domains. Here is a general overview of the VB MAPP scoring process:

Review the Assessment Items: Familiarize yourself with the specific assessment items within each domain of the VB-MAPP. Each item describes a specific skill or behavior to be assessed.

Observe and Collect Data: Observe the individual and collect data on their performance for each assessment item. This may involve direct observations, interviews with caregivers or teachers, and reviewing relevant records or documentation.

Determine the Level of Performance: Assess the individual’s performance on each item and determine the level that best represents their current abilities. The levels typically include Level 0 (no response), Level 1 (emerging skills), Level 2 (developing skills), or Level 3 (independent skills).

Assign Points: Once you have determined the level of performance for each item, assign the corresponding points. The points are typically assigned as follows:

Level 0: 0 points
Level 1: 1 point
Level 2: 2 points
Level 3: 3 points

Calculate Total Scores: Sum up the points across all assessment items within each domain to calculate the total score for that domain.

Calculate the Overall Total: Sum up the total scores across all domains to calculate the overall total score for the VB MAPP assessment.

Analyze and Interpret the Scores: Analyze the scores to identify the individual’s strengths and areas of need. Consider the patterns of performance across domains and compare the scores to developmental norms or benchmarks, if available.

Use the Scores for Intervention Planning: The scores can guide the development of individualized intervention plans, targeting areas of deficit and building on the individual’s strengths. The VB-MAPP can help identify specific targets for skill acquisition and guide the selection of appropriate teaching strategies and interventions.

It’s important to note that the scoring process may vary depending on specific guidelines provided by the VB-MAPP materials, and it’s essential to follow the instructions and guidelines provided in the manual or associated resources for accurate and consistent scoring.